A Successful Pine Squirrel Reunion!

Three weeks ago, a productive day of property maintenance took an unexpected turn when we discovered a pine squirrel’s nest in a surprising place.

With an excavation crew scheduled to arrive the following day, my family and I diligently worked for hours to prepare the work site. One of the primary tasks was to relocate almost eight cords of wood. We were making great progress when our work ground to a sudden halt upon discovering a pile of wood shavings and upholstery shreds carefully nestled in between two rows of wood, located deep in the center of the stack. After careful investigation, we discovered that it was the strategically placed nest of five baby pine squirrels!  The constant, angry churring that we had been hearing in the nearby trees all day instantly made complete sense. We had been threatening a mama pine squirrel’s nest since the beginning of our project!

Mama was keenly focused on getting back to her babies as quickly as possible!

We quickly realized that we were in a bit of a pickle.  A good portion of the wood pile had already been removed, exposing the nest. With the excavating crew coming at dawn, putting the wood back in order to protect the nest wasn’t an option. We wanted to reunite the mama with her babies, but we were only aware of the standard advice for working with a disturbed nest from a tree.  Since this nest was found in a massive (and quickly disappearing) wood pile, we were unsure of how to translate standard tree procedures to our specific situation. As I am not the resident PWRR squirrel whisperer, I quickly called Amy, one of PWRR’s squirrel experts, for advice.

The original nest in the wood pile

Squirrels have very keen hearing, which is what our mama pine squirrel would have to primarily rely on to find her babies, since we couldn't reassemble the nest and leave it where she built it, and she would have no idea to look elsewhere for her salvaged nest that had been tucked into a shoe box.   So, Amy explained that we needed to try to balance seven important elements to maximize the chances of a successful reunification:

• Close proximity to original nest site (so mama doesn’t have to search too far for her babies)

• Protection from the elements (there was a chilly breeze with a cold drizzle in the forecast, and new little babies can’t tolerate prolonged exposure to the elements)

• Strategic placement (to avoid exposure to predators who are always scanning their environment for an easy snack)

• Sufficient distance from human activity (because to a squirrel, we are no different than a predator)

• Provision of loud, artificial audio cues (to lead mama directly to her babies since they had to be relocated)

• Easy access to facilitate speedy entry for mama (the temporary box shouldn't be difficult to get into, so mama doesn't have to spend unnecessary time out in the open, exposed to predators)

• Patience (squirrels usually have a backup nesting site in case their primary nest is discovered, but since they are a prey species, they may sometimes choose to wait for the protection of dusk before making their move to recover their babies from a disturbed site)

Babies nestled into the box before being gently covered in the remaining nesting material

Given the nature of our situation, excelling at all seven elements of reunification simultaneously was a huge challenge.  We triple-bagged about two cups of warm water in quart zippy baggies and placed it in the bottom of a shoe box to provide the babies with an extra source of warmth while waiting for their mama to find them. Then, wearing gloves, we carefully placed all the nesting material on top of the warm water baggies in a shoe box and tucked the baby pine squirrels snuggly inside.  We also placed a phone inside the box playing an hour-long YouTube video that featured crying baby squirrels.  We were unsure if this would be a successful cue for the mama because we were unable to find an audio clip specific to pine squirrels, but she had to have a cue and this was the best we could find, so we gave it a go. Maximizing mama’s chances for finding her babies without also maximizing exposure to predators was a difficult task, because baby pine squirrels instinctually stay quiet to avoid alerting predators to an easy and defenseless meal. Unfortunately, the only way we had to alert mama was to violate this safety instinct and play audible cues of baby squirrels in distress.  So, we picked the best spot we could find and set up the box for easy access for mama, simultaneously staying alert for any sign of opportunistic predators.

We watched carefully from inside the house. We could hear her constantly chastising from the trees as she came closer and closer to the wood pile. We were afraid she might not make it all the way back for her babies due to the fact that we had to interrupt the reunification process twice because of very close calls with interested predators (a crow and a cat).  But she was such an incredible mama! She spent over an hour searching for her babies.  Finally, she discovered them in the shoe box and instantly began the process of relocating them to her secondary nest site!

After successfully removing all five babies, she came back again for one last, thorough check. She tore through the nesting material and carefully searched the ground below the shoe box.  Finding that she hadn’t left any baby behind, she scurried off to tend to her little ones.  It was so rewarding to play a special part in the reunification of a very caring mama with her little ones!  It was all the more satisfying, knowing that our actions helped preserve members of a species native to Idaho.

Note:

Baby squirrels are particularly fragile and need specialized care. If you find an injured or abandoned squirrel, please contact your local wildlife rehabber!  If you are in our general neck of the woods and need advice, feel free to contact us here! (On the same page, you can also read our list of pointers on what to do if you find an animal in need.)